Sugar cane may take $60 million hit from Isaac

Tuesday

Sep 11, 2012 at 5:31 PM

BATON ROUGE — After surveying sugar cane fields in the region that suffered the wind and rain of Hurricane Isaac, state Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said he perceived the damage as “extensive in localized areas.”

By Jeremy AlfordCapitol Correspondent

BATON ROUGE — After surveying sugar cane fields in the region that suffered the wind and rain of Hurricane Isaac, state Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain said he perceived the damage as “extensive in localized areas.”Moreover, officials with the LSU AgCenter are expecting the crop to take a $60 million hit or what amounts to a 7 percent loss of its pre-storm value.Hurricane Isaac pushed ashore in the waning days of August, piling 11 feet of surge atop Shell Beach and initially fueling 85-mph gusts in Grand Isle. A mixed bag of signs for area farmers was left in Isaac’s wake, Strain said, and the end results are still playing out for Louisiana’s $1.1 billion sugar cane industry. “While there is sugar cane that will bounce back and thrive, some of the cane planted prior to Isaac’s landfall that I surveyed (last week) was significantly damaged,” Strain said. Sugar cane can be blown flat by a storm, and, if the sun can do its job, the crop will right itself.However, if the cane loses its top or becomes severely twisted, chances of rejuvenation are slim. For regional farmers, too much of their crops seem to be falling into the latter category.LSU AgCenter economist Kurt Guidry said sugar cane, above all other Louisiana crops, suffered the greatest economic loss from the storm — about $60 million, which equates to an 8 percent loss in yield.To put that into perspective, all of the state crops combined, including sugar cane, are expected to take a $100 million hit. In an earlier interview, Jim Simon, general manager of the Thibodaux-based American Sugar Cane League, said many farmers are primarily worried about finishing planting, which had just gotten underway when the storm hit.And if fields remain wet in the coming weeks, it could make the task more difficult, he said.Guidry said the planting challenges have come up in his research as well. “This will result in either a change in planting methods — going from whole-stalk planting to billet planting — or a change in the planting ratio,” Guidry said. Both of these changes would require additional acres to be harvested for planting “and, therefore, reduce the number of acres a producer would normally have to harvest for sugar,” he added.The reduction in acres for sugar production reduces the overall revenue producers can expect, Guidry said.Strain said he encountered the same concerns during his inspections, too.“The damage from this storm could impact productivity depending on the weather for the rest of the harvest season,” he said. While preliminary estimates are being floated regarding Hurricane Isaac’s impact, the end results won’t be seen until after harvesting takes place, he said.Strain said he and his staff evaluated sugar cane fields in St. James, St. John and Lafourche parishes last week.He said he has been encouraging farmers not to destroy any damaged crops until they have been inspected by an insurance adjuster and an agent from the U.S. Farm Service Agency.